Belmont Abbey’s Abby Stine (7) sets up a return during Thursday’s NCAA Division II Southeastern Regional match. Wingate won in three sets to end the Lady Crusaders’ best season in school history at 28-4.

Published: Thursday, December 5, 2013 at 09:13 PM.

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WINGATE – For the second straight year, Belmont Abbey College’s women’s volleyball team had to play a NCAA Division II playoff match on the road.

And for the second straight year, the Lady Crusaders put up a fight but fell to the top-seeded host team.

On Thursday at Wingate’s Cuddy Arena, the Abbey fell 3-0 in the Southeast Regional semifinals by scores of 25-17, 25-15 and 25-15.

The loss ends the Lady Crusaders’ best season in school history at 28-4.

Belmont Abbey, which had never won even a Conference Carolinas quarterfinal tournament match before last season, dropped a 3-2 decision at Armstrong Atlantic in its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2012.

“We obviously didn’t play our best game today,” said Lady Crusaders coach Mary DeJute, the only coach in school history with a winning volleyball record. “We have done a lot all season long but we fell a little short today.”

The defeat also ends the careers of two Abbey standouts, who have helped the program to the first four winning records in their four years at the school – Lydia Schellenberg and Tori Jensen.

WINGATE – For the second straight year, Belmont Abbey College’s women’s volleyball team had to play a NCAA Division II playoff match on the road.

And for the second straight year, the Lady Crusaders put up a fight but fell to the top-seeded host team.

On Thursday at Wingate’s Cuddy Arena, the Abbey fell 3-0 in the Southeast Regional semifinals by scores of 25-17, 25-15 and 25-15.

The loss ends the Lady Crusaders’ best season in school history at 28-4.

Belmont Abbey, which had never won even a Conference Carolinas quarterfinal tournament match before last season, dropped a 3-2 decision at Armstrong Atlantic in its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2012.

“We obviously didn’t play our best game today,” said Lady Crusaders coach Mary DeJute, the only coach in school history with a winning volleyball record. “We have done a lot all season long but we fell a little short today.”

The defeat also ends the careers of two Abbey standouts, who have helped the program to the first four winning records in their four years at the school – Lydia Schellenberg and Tori Jensen.

“It’s been an amazing journey,” said Schellenberg, a senior from Jacksonville, Fla., and the second of three sisters to play for the Lady Crusaders. “I knew they were a good team and they were going to get kills and we were going to get kills. They just had some really good hitters and we couldn’t stop them.”

Schellenberg, who had a team-high 10 kills Thursday night, is a two-time all-conference performer for the Lady Crusaders, who shared the Conference Carolinas regular season title before taking their second straight title in the post-season tournament.

“She been one of the key factors for why we turned the corner and get to this point as a program,” DeJute said of Schellenberg. “We have taken some great steps over the last few years. And I think the young players we have in our program will help us keep moving forward.”

DeJute has guided a program that had a 90-266-2 record before she was hired in 2009 to a 96-54 record in five seasons – and she’ll have four returning all-conference players back next season, including league player of the year Hannah Schellenberg (Lydia’s younger sister) and league freshman of the year Ana Maria Pagan.

Wingate was led by Southeast Region player of the year Anna Hilton, a 6-foot senior who was a volleyball, basketball and soccer star at Hickory High. Hilton had 12 kills for the Bulldogs in Thursday’s victory.

The Bulldogs program of veteran coach Shelton Collier has won the last eight South Atlantic Conference titles and advanced to at least the regional championship match the last four years. Collier has 902 wins in 33 seasons coaching at Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Wingate.

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22